geoharvey

Japan:

¶   During the Fukushima Disaster, workers needed to open a valve to supply coolant, but could not do so because the backup battery, an ordinary car battery, was damaged. They did not have the cash needed to buy one, so TEPCO sent a helicopter with the cash the next day. [ROCKETNEWS24]

¶   TEPCO is looking into importing shale gas from the US to lower costs. [The Japan Daily Press]

World:

¶   The government of India is committed to installing 55 GW of renewable power by 2022, providing electrical power to millions of households. [Hindustan Times]

US:

¶   The NRC’s review of the plan to restart San Onofre could be very long. According to the regional administrator, a licence amendment may be necessary, and this could take up to two years. [Washington Post]

¶   Connecticut’s current plan is to have 20% of its electrical power from renewable sources by 2020. The governor is considering increasing that for job growth. [North American Windpower]

¶   Economists say clean coal is too expensive. [WyoFile]

¶   Haliburton has recovered the radioactive device it lost in a desert in Texas a month ago. It had been the object of an extensive search with sophisticated detection gear. It was found by an oilfield worker, who recognized it from a flyer. [Equites.com]

Japan:

¶   A citizens group that has been monitoring radiation in Fukushima Prefecture says its readings are consistently higher than the figures the government released. It is suggesting the government somehow manipulated the data it released and purposely misinformed the public. [Asahi Shimbun]

World:

¶   Despite claims to the contrary, generating electricity with coal continues a long decline in Germany, and the country continues to export power, even though several nuclear plants were closed. Renewable resources are now contributing more than either nuclear or hard coal. They may surpass soft coal this year as well. [Renewable Energy World]

¶   Chinese solar panels have been selling at below cost, helping to drive the boom in solar power.  That may end soon. What effect it will have on the solar electric market is less certain. [Washington Post]

¶   The UK may be facing higher electric costs and blackouts by 2015, because coal plants will be closed early, according to the energy regulator. [The Guardian]

US:

¶   An ongoing news issue is that NRC whistleblowers are accusing the agency of concealing details of a possible problem from the public. A forty-year-old 385 foot tall earth dam, which supplies cooling water, is upriver from the Oconee nuclear plant. If it fails, the plant could be flooded, and its three reactors damaged. [Greenville News]

¶   Those who have a little extra time may want to visit some of the thirteen homes and businesses on the Solar Tour in Fairbanks. It is from 10:00 to 4:00 today, Alaska time. [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner]

¶   New York’s Lincoln Center will be getting its electric supply entirely from wind power. [North American Windpower]

¶   According to Boeing’s Chief Technology Officer, the airline industry is “begging” for biofuels to power its fleets. [Agri News]

Technology:

¶  Highview Power Storage, a company in the UK, has been operating a prototype energy storage unit for two years. Excess power from wind farms is used to liquefy nitrogen, which can then be boiled off to produce power when it is needed. [Extreme Tech]

Japan:

¶   Japan Petroleum Exploration has retrieved oil shale from below the Ayukawa oil and gas field in Akita in northern Japan, and hopes to be able to extract fuel from the area. [Reuters]

¶   TEPCO is removing fuel from a reactor at Fukushima Daini. [The Japan Times]

¶   The Hakodate municipal government is considering filing a lawsuit to stop construction of a nuclear plant in nearby Oma, Aomori Prefecture. Hakodate has a population of about 280,000. [The Daily Yomiuri]

World:

¶   The EU commission is being accused in parliament of dodging the tough safety questions on nuclear power, failure to address important issues, and having no proposals to close unsafe reactors. [TheParliament.com]

¶   Wales has relaxed rules to allow certain organizations to install solar panels and some other renewable energy devices without planning permission. [Cogeneration & On-Site Power Production Magazine]

US:

¶   An independent poll of registered voters in areas served by San Onofre shows 50% want the plant shut down, and 30% want it to continue generating power. [U-T San Diego]

¶   The US nuclear power industry is trying to get export controls eased, so it can sell nuclear technology to such countries as China and Russia. [Sydney Morning Herald]

¶   A new poll by Hart Research shows Americans love solar. Among swing voters, 59% say developing solar is very important. The poll covers a lot of other questions about power. [CleanTechnica]

Japan:

¶   Construction of the nuclear plant in Aomori Prefecture, reported by local media yesterday, is now quite certain. [The Daily Yomiuri]

¶   CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets estimates Japan will have 24.9 GW of renewable capacity by 2016. [Clean Technica]

World:

¶   A decision by the Bulgarian government to abandon construction of a nuclear power plant has put it at odds with Russia. [Telegraph.co.uk]

¶   A report based on the European stress tests has been seen by members of the press prior to release. It says nearly all nuclear reactors in Europe need upgrades for safety. Costs are expected to range from €30 million to €200 million ($38 million to $250 million). [Wall Street Journal]
… The results of the stress test leave many questioning whether nuclear plants are currently safe enough to operate. [Deutsche Welle]

¶   According to a new report from Green Budget Germany, the true total cost of wind power is about half that of electricity from coal. [RenewEconomy]

¶   The Australian government is looking into 100% renewable scenarios for 2030 and 2050. [Climate Spectator]

US:

¶   Customers in Tampa Florida were offered rebates for new PV systems. The total available to all was $1 million. Signing up started online, and the rebates were all claimed in one minute. [WTSP 10 News]

¶   Cost estimates for Crystal River repairs keep going up.  A new figure from Zapata, Inc., says that the costs will be $1.5 billion, $200 million more than the owner’s estimates. The estimate for the worst case scenario is $3.4 billion. [Nuclear Street]

¶   An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hear objections to renewal of the Indian Point license, beginning October 15. [Reuters]

¶   A shutdown at Palisades was the result of cracks in a pipe associated with a control rod, which leaked radioactive cooling water. The cause of the cracks is unknown. [WOOD-TV]

Japan:

¶   Work on removing debris continues at Fukushima Daiichi. Progress is slow, and has to carefully considered. The beam that fell into Unit 3′ s spent fuel pool slipped when touched by a hydraulic fork, and fell on top of the fuel, evidently without damaging it. [World Nuclear News]

World:

¶   The UK city of Peterborough has plans to become energy independent by 2020. [NewNet]

¶   Renewable power output in the UK rose 6.5% in the second quarter over last year, despite a 31% drop in the output of hydro. The combined output of solar PVs, wave and tidal plants was 470 GWh, an 861% increase over last year. [Power Engineering]

US:

¶   Renewable power saves soldiers’ lives, saves money for the military, and makes the military stronger. Nevertheless new proposals continue to come before congress to prevent the military from pursuing it. [The Hill]

¶   The purchase by a Chinese company of four US wind farms has been blocked by President Obama for security reasons. All four wind farms were close to US military bases. [CNN]

¶   Environmentalists agree that the area around San Onofre needs to be examined for geological faults, but object to the damage to ocean wildlife that will be done by 250 decibel blasts every 15 seconds for 12 days. They say other ways of mapping fault lines exist. [Los Angeles Times]

¶   Renewable Energy Trust Capital, Inc. believes it can lower the cost of capital for solar projects dramatically, cutting the cost of generating solar power by up to 20 percent. [Sacramento Bee]

¶   A renewable energy plant at the City of San José Water Pollution Control Plant in California is now coming online. It uses a 1.4 MW fuel cell for power, and biogas from a waste digester for fuel. [Fuel Cell Today]

Japan:

¶   Local officials from Takahagi, Ibaraki, are opposing attempts by the central government to use part of a national forest in the city as a nuclear waste dump. Government assurances of safety are regarded as without value. Other cities have answered similarly. [The Japan Daily Press]

World:

¶   Sunny Bangchak, 44-megawatt project in Thailand, achieved grid connection on September 4. It is the largest PV installation yet in Southeast Asia. The hot and humid climate required panels adapted for the environment. [Bikya Masr]

US:

¶   The natural gas industry is trying to make friends with the renewable industry by claiming to be less destructive than other “brown” fuels, and so a better ally for the changeover to renewables. [GigaOM]

¶   Google is continuing to act on its promise to use renewable power sources by building a 48 MW wind farm in Oklahoma. [TheHostingNews.com]

¶   Georgia Solar Utility, Inc. has proposed plans to deploy 2 GW of renewable energy within the next four years. The company will use a mutual type company so ratepayers will profit from dividends. This represents a $7 Billion economic stimulus for the state. [AltEnergyMag]

¶   Georgia Power is seeking to acquire 210 MW of additional solar capacity through long-term contracts over a three-year period. [Solar Industry]

¶   The US House of Representatives passed the “Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act,” which protects companies engaging in exploitation of fossil fuels.  Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is betting heavily on solar power. [PlanetSave.com]

¶   Solectria Renewables will provide its Megawatt Solar Stations for the 5 MW True North solar farm in Salisbury, Massachusetts. This solar farm is the largest solar installation in New England and the first direct-to-grid solar farm in Massachusetts. [Your Industry News]

Japan:

¶   The Nuclear Regulation Authority plans to have a set of requirements for plant restarts finalized by next March. Reactors will have to be in compliance with those regulations before they will be allowed to restart. [Asahi Shimbun]

World:

¶   UK renewable energy capacity has grown 42% in the past year. [Business Green]

… Britain is expected to be a net energy exporter by 2020 because of the growth in renewables. [Reuters]

¶   Scotland has set an ambitious goal of getting 100% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. They are now ahead of schedule. [reNews Europe]

¶   Europe now has over 100 GW of wind power generation installed. [Business Review Europe]

¶   Solar is becoming a mainstream power source in Europe. [PublicServiceEurope.com]

¶   The IAEA expects more modest growth in the nuclear power industry than it predicted in the past. [Reuters]

US:

¶   A cooperative model makes solar a considerably cheaper power source than conventional grid sources in Massachusetts communities. [SustainableBusiness.com]

¶   Renewable power is growing rapidly in the US. The reasons for growth are not so much because it is good for the environment, but because it is cost-effective. [Businessweek]

¶   UniStar is appealing the NRC decision not to allow its proposed reactor at Calvert Cliffs to proceed. The law says a reactor in the US must have the majority of owners from the US, and UniStar is entirely foreign-owned. [Power Engineering]

¶   Sales of solar PVs have increased for US companies by 45%, manufacturing has increased 9%, but prices have declined. The average price per watt has fallen below $1.  [FuelFix]

¶   GE has announced $1.2 billion in new orders for a new series of gas turbines designed to start quickly to compliment renewable resources. [SmartPlanet.com]

Technology:

¶   The US Navy is working on technology to convert carbon dioxide in seawater into fuel for its ships. The object is to increase both range and security. Nevertheless, there was an attempt in congress to curtail the research. [CleanTechnica]

¶   The National Renewable Energy Lab has produced a bacterium that makes ethylene through photosynthesis. It exudes the ethylene, which makes harvest much more efficient.  [Platts]

Japan:

¶   There will be no more nuclear reactors going online in Japan between now and next summer, according to the chief of the Nuclear Regulation Authority. [The Daily Yomiuri]

¶   TEPCO says the steel beam that fell into the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 spent fuel pool did not damage anything. [The Daily Yomiuri]

World:

¶   Total SA, one of the five largest oil companies in the world, warns that the environmental impact of oil drilling in the Arctic would be too great to be done. The company’s CEO says, “Oil on Greenland would be a disaster.”A leak would do too much damage to the image of the company”. [CNN]

¶   Mecca will be the first city in Saudi Arabia to run entirely on solar power. [EcoSeed]

¶   So far this year, the Co-operative Bank, which operates in the UK, has loaned £232 million for renewable projects. Last year’s total, for the entire year, was £79 million. [AOL Money]

US:

¶   The US military is going renewable. The reasons are simple: reduce casualties, improve logistics, and improve security. [Business Insider]

¶   A proposed federal law would prevent the NRC from granting a renewal of an operating license until ten years before the old license expires. This would prevent Seabrook from getting renewal until 2020. [Boston Globe]

¶   The NRC approved a 17% uprate for St. Lucie Unit 2. The reactor has been down since early August, preparing for the uprate. [World Nuclear News]

¶   GE-Hitachi has won NRC approval for a new uranium enrichment plant in North Carolina. [Power Engineering]

Japan:

¶   The new Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority will not use the results of stress tests performed by its predecessor. Instead, it will establish its own, new criteria on whether nuclear reactors will be allowed to restart. This means the utilities will have to start the process of restarting over from the beginning, and they do not know where to start yet. [The Japan Times]

¶   Japanese utilities are lobbying hard to restart nuclear power generation. Four of them are likely to go bankrupt if the plants are not restarted. The government is waffling on the subject. Seven and a half million people have signed petitions to abandon nuclear power. Renewable power generation is growing at about twice the rate needed to achieve government goals. [IBTimes.co.uk]

¶   TEPCO has started removing steel debris from Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3. [The Denki Shimbun]

World:

¶   The man responsible for institutional investment of €100 billion at Union Investment expressed “some concern the sector overall may not be enough to absorb the general investment demand, particularly from larger allocators.” [Investment Europe]

¶   The European Commission’s Joint Research Center says renewable energy generation is the only set of power sources that offers price reductions. All others offer price increases. [pv magazine]

¶   Germany now has over 30GW PV of solar capacity. [PV Insider and News Analysis]

¶   A report from GlobalData says renewable power generation in the UK will equal thermal by 2025. [IBTimes.co.uk]

¶   Denmark is now getting 40% of its power from renewable sources. [Reuters]

¶   Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing, talking of the country’s goal of 100% electrical generation by 2020, said, “We are confident, that the target, while being ambitious, is achievable.” [Deutsche Welle]

¶   The World Bank will join a United Nations initiative aimed at increasing the poor’s access to electricity and clean household fuels. [inAudit]

US:

¶   A poll taken for the wind industry indicates 67% of those responding said they would prefer to have their electricity sources supplied by renewable power sources, versus 9% for fossil fuels and 8% for nuclear. [Huffington Post]
… A poll taken for the nuclear industry came up with somewhat different figures, showing 65% support nuclear. [World Nuclear News]

¶   A cavern below the sinkhole at Bayou Corne has been found to have 1300 feet of debris at the bottom. The cavern was full of natural gas, which has been bubbling up to the surface around the area. [The Advocate]

Japan:

¶   The Japanese power industry is working on pushing the ruling Japanese Democratic Party out of  power in the next election. The issue is how the government has handled TEPCO and nuclear power. [The Japan Times]

World:

¶   In Australia, poorer families are investing more in solar than wealthier. Right now, over 10% of the population is getting electricity from solar, and 18% are getting some form of power from solar systems. [CleanTechnica]

¶   The nuclear plants at risk from tsunami include many in Asian countries not equipped to deal with disaster as well as the Japanese were at the time of the Fukushima disaster. [EcoSeed]

US:

¶   An article on waste at data centers that appeared in the New York Times provides some insight into why fossil fuels are a thing of the past. [Triple Pundit]

¶  Last month’s shutdown at Millstone is seen as a wake-up call on global warming. Global warming is threatening the nuclear plants’ access to cool water. [The Connecticut Mirror]

¶   Cooperative solar projects are catching on in Delaware. [The News Journal]

¶   Total Energy Today, a trade event in Houston sponsored by Shell and Halliburton, is providing three days of events dealing with energy, with an “all of the above” approach. [CleanTechnica]
… The schedule shows out of about 50 talks and symposiums, 14 deal with renewable energy, 7 with fossil fuels, 7 with finance, 6 with the grid, and 1 with nuclear. [Schedule for Total Energy]

Japan:

¶   Radiation levels at the town of Futaba, 5.6 km northwest of Fukushima Daiichi,  had already gone above safe limits before the first explosion at the plant. [The Japan Times]

¶   A crane knocked a steel beam 7 m. long (23′ 4″), weighing 470 kg. (1034 lbs.), into the Unit 3 spent fuel pool. [NKH]

¶   The town assembly of Okuma, Fukushima, approved a reconstruction plan, under which no residents may return home for at least five years. [The Daily Yomiuri]

US:

¶   A large plastic bin washed ashore in Hawaii, the first debris from the tsunami following the Tohoku Earthquake of 2011 to hit the islands. A Japanese official confirmed that it came from the Fukushima Daiichi plant. [BigPond News]

¶   A better system for transmission and distribution is key to developing renewable electric generation in the US. [The Sun]

Video:

“Can Non-Fossil Fuel Renewables achieve 15.7 Terawatts?” [Accuweather.com] (Spoiler: the answer is yes.)

Japan:

¶   The Atomic Energy Society of Japan, a pro-nuclear association of nuclear engineers, conducted a survey of members. Answers to a number of questions were reported. Asked whether nuclear power poses a threat to the future of mankind, 70% said no; the news report does not mention the fact that this means 30% of members of the pro-nuclear association answered some other way. [Asahi Shimbun]

¶   Japan’s new Nuclear Regulatory Authority says it is unlikely any more reactors will go online this year. [The Japan Times]

World:

¶   A study published in the journal Natural Hazards, discusses nuclear power plants in areas threatened by large tsunamis. It lists 23 nuclear power plants with 74 reactors as being at high risk. [Science Daily]

US:

¶   There are now two NRC safety engineers claiming the agency is concealing danger of flooding downstream from dams that could fail. They believe a dam failure would be certain to cause one or more meltdowns much like those at Fukushima. [AllGov]

¶   Coalition Against Nukes representatives met with legislators on Thursday, and then with NRC Chairman Macfarlane and member Maguire yesterday. CAN members attending the meetings say they believe nothing will come of them, because the NRC is totally captured. [The Hill]

¶   The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill called the “Stop the War on Coal Act.” [Power Engineering]

Technology:

¶   Researchers at Murdoch University, in Perth, Western Australia, have found a way to make water-based sodium based batteries, similar to lithium batteries. [Climate Spectator]
… Media seems to have been slow picking this up, and my web searches did not catch it early on. Murdoch University issued a news release on August 8, in which they say that though the technology is probably too bulky for portable devices, it should work fine for utility-scale energy storage. [Murdoch University News Release]

Japan:

¶   Two agencies regulating nuclear power in Japan have been closed. The Fukushima Disaster revealed, and was to a large extent caused by, their monumental failures. [The Japan Times]

¶   The new Japanese Nuclear Regulatory Agency has opened up shop. [Power Engineering]

¶   The Japanese government’s pledge to abandon nuclear has loopholes. [Asahi Shimbun]

World:

¶   China’s first goal for 2015 was 5 GW of solar capacity. That turned out to be unrealistic, because they  are installing 7 GW in 2012 alone. They have increased the goal for 2015 three times so far, and it is now 21 GW.  But that may be wrong because it looks like they might have 40 GW in 2015. If that happens, they may increase their 2020 goal from 50 GW to 100 GW. [OilPrice.com]

¶   The Australian Capital Territory is setting a goal to get 90% of its power from renewable energy by 2020. [Climate Spectator]

US:

¶   A study by a “think tank” says closing Indian Point would cost billions to the economy of New York. Critics say the study did not consider all the facts. Its author is a highly experienced economist who has worked as a consultant to the power industry for thirty years. [The Journal News | LoHud.com]

¶   The desert Southwest can provide power all over the country, but there have to be more and better transmission lines to do it. [Washington Post]

¶   The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity says the EPA will shut down 204 coal generating plants in 25 states. They believe this is not good. [L.A. Biz]

Technology:

A group of Japanese companies is beginning testing of a plant that will produce hydrogen from sewage. [International Environmental Technology]

Japan:

¶   Japan is now third among nations for solar power capacity. Since the nation started pursuing renewable energy aggressively, over 99% of all projects approved were solar. [OilPrice.com]

¶   The questions of whether to recycle spent fuel and how to dispose of it are unanswered problems for Japan. [The Japan Times]

World:

¶   The EU is planning to limit the use of food-based biofuels.  [Hydrocarbon Processing]

¶   Iran has the potential to produce 20 gigawatts of wind power, and is getting around sanctions to install turbines. [Green Prophet]

US:

¶   More than 300 public interest groups sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Friday opposing S.3512, the Coal Ash Recycling and Oversight Act of 2012. This bill would remove responsibility for coal ash management from the federal government and hand it to the states. [Environment News Service]

¶   The “No More Solyndros Act,” and has been passed by the US House of Representatives, would prevent the DOE from making loan guarantees for renewable power. Subsidies continue for fossil fuel and nuclear power. [GreenerIdeal]

¶   A number of studies indicate USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and the Renewable Fuel Association are wrong to claim ethanol reduced gasoline prices by $0.89/gal in 2010 and $1.09/gal in 2011. [Global Warming]

¶   Seabrook’s scram on Friday was because of a bad computer card (punch card maybe?). Since the reactor was scheduled to be shut down for refueling on Sunday, refueling began early. [Foster’s Daily Democrat]

Japan:

¶   Japan went through summer with nearly no power from nuclear plants, and the lights stayed on, contrary to predictions of pro-nuclear alarmists. [Wall Street Journal]

¶   For the first time since the Fukushima Disaster, a case of thyroid cancer has been reported in one of the children there. The government says the cancer was not caused by the disaster. [The Japan Daily Press]

World:

¶   Britain and France want assurances from Japan that they will not be stuck with Japanese nuclear waste they are reprocessing, as Japan turns away from nuclear power. [Asahi Shimbun]

¶   The government of Denmark had set a goal of 200 megawatts of solar capacity by 2020. The country has already met that goal. [Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark]

¶   Ontario’s Atikokan generating plant has stopped burning coal, and is switching from coal to biomass. [NewNewsleger.com]

US:

¶   The State of Pennsylvania is giving $20 million in financial incentives for use of natural gas, which Governor Corbett wants to support. The governor’s position is that support incentives for solar are too expensive and not good for the taxpayers. [Examiner.com]

¶   New York State will not renew the Power Purchase Agreement with Indian Point when it expires. [Power Engineering]

¶   A security worker at Indian Point is suing the owner and operators, claiming the owner’s emphasis on profit has left the plant without proper security. In mock attacks to test security, the terrorist side wins half the time. [The Daily Voice]

¶   It will be months before San Onofre restarts, if it does. [MarketWatch]

¶   Members of the NRC testified before a senate committee, giving an update on the NRC’s review of the Fukushima Disaster. [Power Engineering]
… NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane’s testimony is given here. [Power Engineering]

¶   Release of a small amount of radioactive steam exposed nearly 50 workers at Peach Bottom. According to reports, no one received significant exposure, no radiation escaped the containment  building, and the level of radiation in the building quickly returned to normal. [Yorkdispatch.com]

Technology:

¶   Bioplastics are seen as a way to sequester carbon and reduce costs at the same time. [Green Energy News]

Japan:

¶   TEPCO is bringing in outside experts to monitor reforms. Part of the purpose is to help convince Japanese people to allow Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactors to restart. [Reuters]

¶   The Science Council of Japan is calling for a new review of nuclear waste disposal. It began the process on 2010, but wants to start over in a way that engages the public. [The Daily Yomiuri]

¶   Debris removal at Fukushima Daiichi is moving along very slowly. [The Daily Yomiuri]

¶   Tests sponsored by the government of Fukushima Prefecture indicate that about 0.5% of the children have thyroid abnormalities. [Asahi Shimbun]
… (Though the article above does not say so, the result it gives contrasts sharply with reports from large-scale private tests, some of which indicate abnormalities in a third to half the children. [Arnie Gundersen speech given earlier this year])

World:

¶   IKEA will soon be selling  a thin-film solar system along with a homeowner service package, which includes a full site survey, installation, fitting and a guarantee. [Energy Live News]

¶   Masdar, the state-owned, Abu Dhabi, green energy company, says it will install 41 gigawatts of solar power in Saudi Arabia by 2030. [OilPrice.com]

US:

¶   Entergy is suing the State of Vermont over a new tax on electrical generation introduced this year. [vtdigger.org]

¶   Based on an MIT study, Principal Solar, Inc., a solar holding company, predicts solar grid parity in the US by 2014, in a paper called “Investing in the Power of the Sun: The Capitalist Case for Solar Energy.”